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9.14.2011

Preview: Dinamo Zagreb vs Real Madrid (UCL)

Real Madrid's road to its tenth European Cup title goes through Croatia tonight at 20:45 (GMT+1) in a match against Dinamo Zagreb. It will be the first clash between both sides in the championship. Real will wear red for the first time since their match in Odessa, Ukraine, 38 years ago, which confirmed goalkeeper Garcia Remon's status as a legendary Madridista. Iker Casillas, who recently celebrated the 12th anniversary of his first team debut, will look to carry on his legacy. The team's power in attack (14 goals in 4 official games) will do the rest.

Dinamo Zagreb Vs. Real Madrid

The road of the tenth (13 matches in 248 days) started at 3:15 pm yesterday. At that time took off the plane that led to Real Madrid to Zagreb, a city where it landed after two hours of peaceful flight. The expedition which was welcomed by a hundred fans, then moved to the exclusive Regent Esplanade Hotel, built in 1925 to accommodate travelers from the Orient Express. From there, Mourinho will watch the match if there are no last minute changes.

The Madridistas are in Group D with Dinamo, Olympique Lyonnais and Ajax. Maksimir Stadium will present a full house tonight. Lass has made his first squad list of the season. Khedira has also made the manager's cut. Benzema and Ronaldo will surely be motivated having scored eight goals between them in the team's official games so far this year (5 for the Portuguese, 3 for the Frenchman). Kaka, Sahin and Altintop will miss the match due to injuries.

There are other possible news. Albiol has options to replace Carvalho who is dispersed, and would not be unusual that Callejon will play instead of Di Maria. In the latter case the signs are sporty and deductive: the diligent Real Madrid website showed yesterday a beautiful picture of the youth squad player with a gleaming European Cup.

The clash will see Real Madrid wearing read for the fourth time in its entire history. The former three happened in 1971 and 1973. The first was in Wales in the Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinals against Cardiff City. They then faced PSV in the semifinals in Eindhoven. Finally, they wore red against Dynamo Kiev in Odessa in the first leg of the European Cup quarterfinals.

Dinamo Zagreb are the most honoured side in Croatia with 13 league and 11 cup titles. They've played more games this season and drew their last league match his weekend against Hajduk Split, ending their six straight victory run. Krunoslav Jurcic's team are still leaders and undefeated in the championship, having taken 19 points in the first seven games. Defender Simunic is suspended for the match

Dinamo Zagreb back to the group stage after 12 years and after five seasons falling in the third round of the previous phase. Team qualified for the group stage after eliminating Neftçi (3-0; 0-0), HJK Helsinki (1-2; 1-0) and Malmo (4-0; 2-0) in the playoffs. In the last match of the third round, the young goalkeeper Ivan Kelava (23 years) was the star of the team with a super performance. Due to his saves in the match played in Sweden, he received more than 15,500 congratulations on his Facebook page. Today he has a good chance to break the record. Maksimir Stadium was one of the two venues for the 1976 Euro won by Panenka's Czechoslovakia in an unforgettable penalty shootout. Real Madrid now look to earn an impressive victory of their own.